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CA to MA day 1 and 2. Home to Pasadena, CA

Saturday, March 9th, 2019
The last two days have been very long and hard. We were up at 4.30 AM on Thursday to finish packing the five Uhaul boxes with all our belongings.  We were both exhausted, with sore muscles and bruises. The boxes are so full that we could barely shut the doors!

We also laughed a few times too - picture us both trying to roll the memory foam mattress into a roll by rolling ourselves on top of it, and taping it up with duct tape to keep it that way! The best bit was that it actually worked and saved us a ton of room which we sorely needed. We ended up still having to leave several items out to either trash or donate. We had also decided to take our two commuter bikes on the back of the car to save space but later chose to ship them instead. 

We finally finished packing the cubes on Friday morning at about 8 am,  having also got up again at 4.30 am - afraid of not having enough time to finish before the boxes were due to be picked up,  any time from 10 am. As it was, we spent the rest of the morning moving everything out of the house that was left into the garage.  


The truck arrived at about noon complete with a fork lift to load the boxes on it. We watched with baited breath hoping they were not overweight. Much to our relief all was fine.

The next job was to rent a van to take the leftover furniture to donate.  Unfortunately, the local thrift store refused to take it as they were full,  so we had to drive all the way to Gilroy to donate it. 

All the time, I followed Dick in the car with Dottie as we didn't want to leave her alone. She was already out of sorts with the lack of furniture in the house...

We also had to take Dottie to the vet for her vaccinations which were due, and Dick had to deliver his motorbike to its temporary home before it was shipped. Just one or two jobs!! The mustang was picked up on Wednesday and will be transported to MA in a covered car carrier. It will be there quicker than we are. 

Next was a trip to the dump and finally to return the van. At that point we realised we were just too tired to drive all the way to Pasadena, so we stopped for a coffee and a regroup.  Luckily, our friend and Realtor Susan had offered us a room for the night which we gratefully accepted.  Susan and Dan welcomed us with their three dogs, and we stayed in with a few glasses of wine and food. It was such a relief! 

We had, unfortunately, found one item that should have been put in the box which was too big for the car- our sofa bed cover. Luckily we had a back-up plan and put it in a large packing box with all the other small items that inevitably get left behind. 

This morning, after a wonderful nights sleep, we went back home to do our final jobs-a walk with the dog, a trip to FedEx to mail the box, and a final trip to our favourite Peets coffee shop for takeout coffee, tea and breakfast. 




Finally, we loaded up the car, left the house for the last time, and went to the Post office to close out PO boxes which we had belatedly discovered needed to close in person. 

We got on the road to Pasadena at 10:30 AM deciding to start the trip as we mean to go on and went on 101 south- a longer but much more scenic route. Dick set the trip counter on the car back to zero, and set up a dashboard camera in time-lapse mode to record the whole trip too.

California is very green after all the rain, and the traffic was relatively light being a Saturday, so it was a relatively uneventful drive until we got to LA and the usual traffic build up.

We reached Pasadena at 4pm, with a very happy dog once she saw Stevie and Joel. 

Dinner at a local pub with a few beers was exactly what we needed, and a very good nights sleep.

Sunday was spent chilling after a quick shopping trip for some accessories for our night out at the Magic Castle, which is a black tie affair.

Bruce, a friend of Stevie's, is a member of the club and he met us outside the Magic Castle in our finery... Yes, that is Dick in a tux with a bow tie!


We spent a great night learning about the Magic Castle, and watching some amazing magic.

Tomorrow the cross country adventure finally begins!

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